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REMAINER MEP Charles Tannock said Prime Minister Theresa May’s so-called Chequers deal “won’t fly” with the European Union as he called for a closer deal with the Brussels bloc in the style that matches the Jersey option.

Conservative MEP Charles Tannock called for Theresa May to push for a full customs union with the European Union after Brexit rather than the Chequers deal, which he said was unlikely to be accepted by Brussels.

Speaking exclusively to Express.co.uk in Strasbourg Wednesday, Mr Tannock said: “I think Barnier made it very clear that the facilitated customs arrangement won’t really fly and requires far too much trust to allow a third country to collect EU tariffs.

“He certainly is not very happy also about fragmenting goods from services within the proposal made under the Chequers plan and the white paper.

“But of course she is against the hardline Brexitremists who, of course, find that is far too much of a concession to the European Union because it would not allow an independent free trade agreement policy of the United Kingdom if she goes for the Jersey model.

“But Chequers allows for that but in a very complex way.

“It allows for the border in Ireland to stay open. So it ticks all the boxes. No freedom of movement, no European Court of Justice, no long-term budgetary contributions.

“And, also, an inability to conduct our own trade policy. But I don’t think it will fly with the EU 27 personally. And then, of course, we will see what concessions Mrs May has said.”

Jersey is the largest of the Channel Islands, and is a Crown dependency of the UK with a special relationship with the EU.

According to Jersey's Ministry of External Relations: “In simple terms, the Island is treated as part of the EU for the purposes of free trade in goods, but otherwise is not a part of the EU.”

Both Jersey and Guernsey voluntarily use EU legislation or the international standards on which they are based.

Jersey is in a customs union with Brussels and does have access to the EU’s single market for goods but not for services such as the finance, which it negotiates with the bloc on a case-by-case basis.

Mrs May’s Brexit plan, calling for close regulatory alignment with the EU’s single market for British exports, has faced scrutiny from both Brexiteers and Remainers.

The proposal includes plans to create a ”common rule book” – involving a free trade area with the EU on industrial and agricultural goods.

The Brexit plan has been heavily criticised by former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson since the Tory MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip resigned over the agreement in July.

On Sunday, Boris Johnson wrote that Mrs May was wrapping a “suicide vest” around a “great British Brexit”.

But Mrs May has so far vowed to stick by her controversial Brexit blueprint.

The EU’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier has previously rejected Mrs May’s plans and ruled out any special economic relationship with the UK – claiming it would unravel the entire “European project”.

But in a shock u-turn, Mr Barnier told a forum in Slovenia on Monday it is "realistic" to expect a divorce deal with Britain in six to eight weeks – suggesting the divorce could be settled by the week beginning October 15 – just in time for the EU Summit on October 18.

The EU chief negotiator said: "I think that if we are realistic we are able to reach an agreement on the first stage of the negotiation, which is the Brexit treaty, within 6 or 8 weeks.

"Taking into account the time necessary for the ratification process, the House of Commons on one side, the European Parliament and the Council on the other side… We must reach an agreement before the beginning of November. I think it is possible.”